Office 365 Groups easier to create, will expire after one year unless you renew

UAB IT is making changes to make Office 365 Groups easier to create and manage.

A new naming policy will allow any user to create an Office 365 Group from Outlook or Outlook on the web. The group naming policy will enforce the naming prefix of “GRP-“ to newly created groups. Learn more about how to use Groups here.

In mid-August, UAB IT will also add an Office 365 Group Expiration Policy, which will help ensure that inactive groups are removed from the system as usage of Office 365 Groups increases. The expiration policy will be configured with a group lifetime of 365 days. Group owners will be notified via email 30 days, 15 days and one day prior to group expiration. The email notification will include a link to renew the group if desired. If a group expires, it will be recoverable 30 days after expiration.

Because Groups could be created in different ways, such as through the Office 365 Planner app, you may not realize you are an owner of a Group.

Note: When the expiration policy is enabled, any groups currently older than one year will be set to expire in 30 days. The first renewal notification email will be sent within a day of the expiration policy being enabled. Additional notifications will be sent as outlined above.